PowerSwitch

http://www.spiegel.de/international/ger ... 816-2.html

Great article on how the wind turbine revolution in Germany is cracking up already.

I have always thought that the Germans will have to go back to nuclear.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/ger ... 816-2.html

Lies and Deception

The decision to not build offshore wind farms turns out to be misguided not just for environmental reasons, but also for economic ones. At sea, turbines can achieve 4,500 full-load hours a year. By the coast, the figure is 3,000. Inland, a site is considered good if it produces 1,800 hours.

The turbines currently being built across Germany, from the Ore Mountains in the east to Lake Constance in the west, are weaker still. Statistics show that the turbines in the south of the country are generating significantly less power than was predicted. The biggest wind farm in Baden-Württemberg, at a height of 850 meters in the Northern Black Forest, has been a flop for years.

"It's all an enormous swindle," says Besigheim-based auditor Walter Müller, 65, whose former job involved calculating the value of bankrupt East German factories. Today, he takes the same hard-as-nails approach to examining the books of wind farm companies.

His verdict? A fabric of lies and deception. The experts commissioned by the operators of the wind farms sometimes describe areas with weak breezes as top "wind-intensive" sites to make them appear more attractive, he says. "Small-scale investors are promised profits to attract them into closed funds for wind farms that do not generate enough energy," he says. "Ultimately, all the capital is eaten up."

The wind turbines, whose job it was to protect the environment, are not running smoothly. Germany's biggest infrastructure project is a mess. Everyone wants to get away from nuclear. But at what price?

Even Winfried Kretschmann, the governor of Baden-Württemberg and the first Green Party member to govern any German state, is sounding contrite. But his resolve remains as firm as ever: "There is simply no alternative to disfiguring the countryside like this," he insists.

The question is: Is he right?

Great article on how the wind turbine revolution in Germany is cracking up already.

I have always thought that the Germans will have to go back to nuclear.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/ger ... 10816.html

Why do you miss the first part of the article? Some agenda maybe?

Even our most inefficient wind turbines are more efficient than the most efficient German ones!

kenneal - lagger wrote:Even our most inefficient wind turbines are more efficient than the most efficient German ones!

Why would the Germans invest in anything less then state of the art equipment?

The turbines down my lane are German. The seems to to go round ok when the wind blows.

woodburner wrote:http://www.spiegel.de/international/ger ... 10816.html

Why do you miss the first part of the article? Some agenda maybe?

No, just a long article.

Wind turbines are only as good as the average wind speed. The UK is probably the windiest country in Europe (maybe ROI is windier). The best place for wind turbines in on a very windy hill or out to sea where the wind blows faster and because of fewer obstacles, more evenly.

The only problem for wind at the moment is that it is not evenly spread around the day with its power output. So in the UK at the moment it needs Gas Turbines to back it up. So you are not saving on the capital cost of the Gas power stations only some of the fuel. I don't know what the Germans back their wind turbines up with, probably gas or hydro electric. Another problem with wind is the money made from selling of the power to the grid is quite low because it is so unpredicatable compared with a power source that can be despatched on demand.

The only long term green solution for wind is to combine it with some form of storage such as hydro pumped-storage or batteries. Or link the UK into the Norwegian or Icelandic hydro power grids. I understand the cross North Sea HVDC cable from the UK to Norway will not go ahead at the present time.

The Germans appear to have a much lower capacity factor on their wind turbines than the UK and so many more so when they are all turning at full power they have nowhere to get rid of the power. I have heard they try to force it on Czechs and Poles electricity grids(maybe at the point of a panzer gun i don't know). Could be a case for using excessively sized hot water tank heaters to act as a dump for excess wind power. District heating anyone? Or underfloor heating. Even electric cars.

Don't discount the Germans on anything however. They are forward thinking people and maybe they will come up with something as a solution but perhaps they are not letting on. I do believe they will not go back to nuclear.
If their successful economy and manufacturing industry is anything to go by they have a plan but maybe they are not telling until they can dominate with it.

Or maybe it's just the same old swindle - steal as much as you can from whoever you can, preferably the the tax payer. It's called "good business sense" or "making your company profitable". Ask G4S or any one who supplies the guv'ment - they are masters at it.

From the article:
"The underlying divide is basic and irreconcilable. On one side stand environmentalists and animal rights activists passionate about protecting the tranquility of nature. On the other are progressively minded champions of renewable energy and climate activists determined to secure the long-term survival of the planet. "

Littering the countryside with massive industrial artifacts seems guaranteed to generate massive resistance. When people realize that putting even light bullets like a .22 into the blades lets water and rot into their spruce framing, causing the blades to break within a few years, the expansion program will come to a grinding halt.

Onshore Wind is a really pointless and counterproductive approach to decarbonizing the electricity supply. There are many other options for sustainable energy which have as yet scarcely been touched. To mention micro-hydro, offshore wave, tidal current, coppice biomass and geothermal - is to look just at some of those with a baseload potential, that can compete directly with fossil uranium, coal and gas.

I find it astonishing that activists still get conned into supporting onshore wind projects while hugely preferable and far more productive options are largely ignored. In promoting wind power back in the '80s, Walter Marshal, the nuclear engineer heading the CEGB knew exactly what he was doing, relying on petty adversarialism to pursue a self-defeating deficient alternative to nuclear.

Regards,

Lewis

The problem with micro hydro is that it is on a much smaller scale than wind. We are looking at four or five sites for micro hydro in the Newbury town area between the Kennet & Avon canal and the River Kennet. These will replace the old mill sites in the town but will only deliver about 180,000 KW each whereas one wind turbine of the three that we looked at near the town would have been rated at 1.25MW. OK the hydro might produce electricity over a longer period but there is a huge difference in the size of the energy resource.

I'd well agree that wind turbines can be built on a larger scale than the water resources of a lowland site will allow, but this isn't the primary factor in selecting which energy resource to utilize. But assuming the three sites you mention offer 180Kw each, or 0.54Mw combined, the greater hrs/yr of output should get near that of the turbine you mention.

In the uplands the micro-hydro resources are very substantial in number, though still relatively small in scale for the most part. As such they're a valuable potential contributor, particularly as small scale hill reservoirs become essential in the coming years, giving the prospect of an additional power on demand output.

But even if properly utilized I don't see micro-hydro as anywhere near the same potential scale as say offshore wave, which research for the EU Comn back in the early '80s found to have a potential on the western seaboard to meet 80% of the needs of the EU15.

Regards,

Lewis

There is another advantage in putting a lot of energy producing devices in the sea and that is that they deny access to fishermen and actually produce a marine sanctuary. Although the fishermen might not like it, it will do them good in the long run.